Bash at the Beach
by Nangbaby
Summary: Ladybug and Cat Noir face a seemingly run-of-the-mill akumatized foe, only to find discover a surprising facet about the latest victim after the conclusion of the fight. One-shot, may be re-written as part of a future fic at a later date.


Ladybug grunted as she dodged a blast of bat-shaped energy, more out of habit than any actual annoyance or effort. The source of the blast chuckled. That person was the only soul aside from Ladybug and Cat Noir that was mobile on this beach, as the rest of the beachgoers had been imprisoned in dark coffins sprinkled across the sand. By contrast, the villainess before them was bathed in an aura of light that was brighter than it should have been, due to the surrounding gloom.

The muted shadows and odd dimness of the midday were reminders of the unnatural blockage that left only a sliver of the sun visible. There was not supposed to be a cloud in the sky today, let alone an eclipse. The partial blotting out of the sun was the doing of the latest villainess who called herself Sunblock. By contrast, the villainess seemed to shine as a result of the outline around her.

The idle thought remained at the back of Ladybug's mind as she dodged another bat. If one hit her, she would have been imprisoned in one of the black coffins like the unfortunate awestruck bystanders. Instead the projectile whizzed by and brought the chilling wind of a compromised summer day. It was getting darker, and colder.

Sunblock laughed again. In this brief moment of respite, Ladybug took the time to study her opponent for any weakness or spots where the akuma could be hiding. This particular villainess was a teenage girl no older than her in appearance. Her hair was blond and her skin was tanned, but Ladybug knew from previous akumatizations that her true appearance probably differed heavily from this form.

Sunblock wore a one-piece swimsuit that was bisected vertically by an imaginary line, half white on side and half black on the other. On her torso near the center of the suit was her villainous symbol. It was a circle that was also half black and half white, but inverted from the rest of her outfit. In the middle of the circle was a symbol that resembled a pair of sunglasses. Aside from her swimsuit the only two other items she wore were a pair of sandals and a pair of odd bracers. They extended past her wrists into a fingerless gauntlet with a red gem near the juncture of her forearm and wrist. It was from her right gem that the bat-like energy blasts were shot.

"The akuma must be on her wrist," Ladybug whispered to Cat Noir.

"Which wrist?" he asked.

"The left one."

"Are you sure?" His question was followed by a pair of energy bats he and Ladybug jumped and ducked to avoid. "Isn't she firing from her right hand?"

"She's right-handed. If she had been wearing something before getting akumatized, it would be on her left wrist."

"We'll have to get close. Can you think a way of creating an opening?"

Ladybug did not answer. Her first instinct was to activate her Lucky Charm, but she suppressed the inclination. She didn't want to rely on this power especially when the solution was obvious. All they would have to do would be to dodge the blasts until they closed in on her. Then Cat Noir would be able to destroy the bracer.

The whiff of another off-mark blast blew past Ladybugs's right ear. It was only passive luck that had protected her this far, and active luck would be necessary to her win. With a new resolution she threw her yo-yo into the air and let it spin aloft.

"Lucky Charm!" she shouted.

From above dropped a large, rolled spotted canvas. Ladybug caught it with both hands, but sagged under the weight before recovering.

"A blanket?" she asked herself. "What am I supposed to do with this?

It was that moment of confusion that Sunblock closed in on her with a burst of super speed, far too fast for Ladybug to react. All Ladybug saw was the face of her opponent. Her mouth was open, with fangs fully extended.

"Cataclysm!"

Cat Noir had said the words instinctively as his body moved between Ladybug and Sunblock. The villainess sneered at his self-sacrificing action and her mouth closed in on her new target. It was only a mere on tap the wrist that caused her to freeze.

The bracer on her forearm immediately turned to rust, then ash, and Sunblock dropped to a sitting position in defeat. Immediately, a black butterfly manifested from the remains of the bracer and tried to escape with a furious flutter. It did not rise very far before Ladybug had recovered and began to twirl her yo-yo.

"No more evildoing for you, little akuma," she announced. "Time to de-evilize!"

She threw the yo-yo at the black butterfly, trapping it in between the disks. The yo-yo returned to her hand with its target enclosed.

"Gotcha! " She tapped the yo-yo and released the butterfly, which was now white. "Bye bye, little butterfly."

The aura that surrounded Sunblock was burned away by a purple and black wave that disappeared, and her skin and hair changed colors. Instead of a healthy tan, the girl's skin had a corpse-like pallor that was striking against her dark hair. Her bathing suit had been traded for a pair of maroon silk pajamas and her sandals were now soft slippers. Instead of remaining seated, though, she hunched over in agony and screamed as a second wave of smoke rose from her body. Unlike the wave of dissipating dark energy, it only seemed to intensify.

She was literally burning up.

As if her body moved on her own, Ladybug took the spotted blanket and wrapped it around the girl and Cat Noir immediately picked her up. Ladybug threw her yo-yo at a nearby pole, and Cat Noir followed right behind her, carrying the former villainess. The two heroes bounded off the beach and Ladybug quickly reached the street. She spotted a manhole cover and alighted beside it. She lifted the manhole cover and slid it away from the opening, leaving a small portion of the cover at the edge of the hole. She dropped in the opening, while Cat Noir landed a second later with the blanket and its smoking center. He rested the blanket on the ground, allowing it to unfurl, then extended his staff to close the lid and snuff out the pillar of light.

Ladybug hadn't given a second thought to the barely conscious teenager in the midst of helping her, and now that the girl stopped smoldering, her next thought was that this girl had a skin condition. Ladybug was glad she hadn't simply begun the restoration process, or else the girl would have been hurt worse.

But even in the subterranean passageway, Ladybug noticed the teenager's skin was a very light gray, not merely pale, and her canine teeth were still extended in the same distinctive fangs from a few minutes ago. The few burns on her skin began to disappear, and Ladybug remembered she had not yet restored the damage Sunblock caused, so this girl shouldn't have been healing like this.

With a gulp, Ladybug understood this was no human being.

As if reacting to her thought, the teenager made a preternatural recovery and stood up. She almost seemed to float in the darkness and lowered her head in shame.

"I'm so sorry. Thank you, Ladybug."

"You're welcome," the scarlet heroine answered. "but wha- I mean, who are you?"

"My name is Vanessa." Her eyes widened and her head and face rose with a smile. "Your hearts are beating so fast and in tandem, they're made for each other."

Both Ladybug and Cat Noir made pained faces, although Cat Noir's quickly shifted into mischievous glee upon on the impact of the latter half of her statement.

"Please don't give me that look," Vanessa replied with a yawn. "Neither of you are my type and I'm more sleepy than hungry anyway."

"Can you make it home?" Ladybug asked. In response, Vanessa nodded in the affirmative.

"I sneak out when the sun's up all the time," the vampire added. "By the way, have either of you see my bracelet?"

"It's on the beach," Ladybug admitted. A series beeps followed her statement.

"You're about to change back," Vanessa stated, with a slight twinge of disappointment. "I know how this works. Please hurry up and undo the damage I did."

Ladybug nodded, and picked up the blanket. She then climbed the ladder to the manhole cover and removed it.

"Stay here and we'll retrieve your bracelet," Cat Noir told Vanessa.

"Don't worry, I'll just get it from you later. Now that I know your heartbeat, I can find you anywhere. We will meet again soon, cat of the night, under better circumstances."

She chuckled without any of the malice from earlier, yet Cat Noir shivered at the benign laugh. Whether this meant she knew his secret identity or was willing to wait until another crisis forced him to emerge, the idea of her knowing where he _could_ be sent a trickle of fear through his spine. He didn't have time to dwell on it, and a green portion of the pawprint on his ring twinkled into black. Instead he followed Ladybug up the ladder and out of the sewer. He didn't have to look back to know Vanessa was gone.

Once on the surface, Ladybug tossed the blanket into the air with a heave.

"Miraculous Ladybug!" she shouted.

The blanked exploded into a swarm of pink ladybugs that separated and swirled around Paris. The sky brightened at once and the chill in the air was only a memory. Ladybug and Cat Noir returned to the spot where Sunblock had been defeated and in her former spot was the bracelet, just as they expected. The bracelet was clearly expensive, solid gold and engraved with an unusual sigil with a large ruby embedded in it. Onlookers gasped and clapped at the sight of the superheroes, and their adulation reminded them that their job was done.

"Pound it!" the two heroes exclaimed simultaneously as they bumped their fists.

"Are you sure we should have let her go?" Cat Noir asked as he picked up the bracelet. "She's not even human."

"If she got akumatized by Hawk Moth," Ladybug responded, "she's 'human' enough. For a vampire, every day has to be a bad day." She frowned, and Cat Noir lowered his eyes in mocking seduction.

"If I were turned into a vampire, would you let me take a love bite out of you, milady?"

"I'd just order you a dose of UV therapy," Ladybug teased as another spot from her earring disappeared. "Bug out!"

Ladybug and Cat Noir parted from each other in bittersweet dashes and bounds, knowing that they would see each other again.


End file.
